Dear Time, Slow Down.

Dear Diary,

I realized today that I haven't posted since our Staycation a couple weeks ago. I guess I blame being busy and doing the same ol' things we always do as the reason for not writing, but I have some time this afternoon so here's an update.

We decided to hit up open gym at gymnastics after lunch today because it is incredibly too hot and humid to be outside. I told Addy all morning that we were going to open "gym" at gymnastics and she thought we were going to play with "Jim" at gymnastics. I straightened her out though. We weren't the only ones with this idea apparently because the gym was packed! In the chaos of all the children around us, I decided that boys and girls are different. Yep, I am THAT smart.

This was the first time I had seen older boys (by older I mean ages 5-9) at the gym and man, they play rough. They weren't hurting anyone and were being somewhat aware of all the little kids around them, but just watching their "playtime routine" nearly wore me out. They run fast, they jump high, they hit hard, they throw far and they use any and all things as weapons on one another. I am used to my little girls who spend most of their time trying to hold hands with the other kids and wanting to build towers in the foam pit. Addy didn't realize there was a difference between her and the big kids so she was confused when I would steer her away from the boys building a fort out of giant mats or the kids doing flips into the pit. We did however find plenty to do and the girls used every minute of their one hour wisely before we headed home for naps.

I spent the rest of my afternoon figuring out details for Addalyn's 3rd Birthday party that is, shockingly, only about 6 weeks away. It was weird when she turned 2 but it is beyond bizarre that she is nearly 3 YEARS OLD! She is clearly not a baby anymore. It is evident by looking at her or speaking to her. Sometimes I think I am talking to a 13 year old, not a 3 year old.

I am sad the girls are growing up but I suppose I knew that was going to happen so I shouldn't let it get me down. At least Olivia still looks like a baby with as small as she is. Sadly, she is going to get bigger too and by her 2nd Birthday I will be a bawling mess!

I think I also need to point out that with each year my girls get older, I too get older. The Big 27 is not very far away. Age has never freaked me out, but I gotta say, 27 sounds MUCH older than 26. I guess it's good I have Garrett a year ahead of me because his 28 this year sounds even more ancient than my 27! When did we grow up?

Alright I suppose I should get off here and get on with my evening. Dinner is just going to be warming up leftovers (awesome) and then I think we better hit up Dairy Queen for a Blizzard since the money goes to the Children's Miracle Network. I mean, come on, it's for the kids.... we don't have a choice right? =)

Sincerely Yours,

Staycation 2012

Dear Diary,

Well Addy headed off to Pittsburg this afternoon with Granna and Papa for a couple days. This is her first time away from us overnight with the exception of one other night when she was only about a year old. I am already missing her a little bit, BUT Olivia hasn't stopped smiling since her sister left so we'll see how the next couple of days plays out. In the meantime, I thought it would be nice to give a recap of our little Stay-At-Home Vacation from the past few days.

Our "Staycation" turned out to be an excellent idea. I give it 2 thumbs up and I know the other 3 members of my family had a great time too. We skipped all the stressful events that seem to accompany most family vacations and went straight for the good stuff.

Before I give you our Staycation Recap, let me just give a shout out to our vacation sponsors: Gift Cards and Coupons...you'll see why.

Tuesday
After gymnastics on Tuesday night, Garrett suggested that we rearrange the playroom. Now, this doesn't seem like a vacation activity, but let me tell you why I am including it. We completely flip-flopped our toy area and our TV area giving every single thing a new spot. We made the toy area more practical and the TV area more cozy and in turn, the playroom became a completely new room to the girls. All of a sudden things seemed more fun solely because they were in a different spot. Awesome.

Wednesday
We started our vacation off with a trip to Deanna Rose Farm on Wednesday morning (Free Admission on Weekdays). The girls and I have been a couple of times but Garrett had never gone so that was fun. The girls fed animals, went down slides, rode a play tractor, went on a nature trail and everything in between.

We left just as it was getting too warm and headed to the "Train Place" as Addy used to call it, otherwise knows as Fritz's. If you haven't taken your kids here, you need to. It's nothing more than your average hamburger and french fries, BUT you order your food by calling it in from your booth and a train delivers it all to you. What kid wouldn't enjoy that?

After we got much needed naps in and made a quick run to Costco where we snagged a cheap meal (Hotdog/Drink Combo - $1.50) we got home in time for baths and our movie night. We rented "We Bought A Zoo" and snuggled in to our new playroom TV area. The movie was really good and the company was even better!

Thursday
Thursday was Schlitterbahn day. Addy had been looking forward to the water park after asking to see pictures of it every single day this past week so she was excited to say the least. We packed our cooler for a picnic lunch and made it there just after it opened.

We weren't quite sure what to expect but I have to say I was pretty impressed. They had picnic tables and shade umbrellas set up right next to "Kinder Haven" where we planned on spending most of our time. We were able to leave all of our stuff on a table within eyesight of the pool and were just steps away if anyone needed anything.

Kinder Haven was zero entry which was great for the girls. It was no more than a foot deep and had several slides and play areas for the girls to enjoy. The problem, however, was the girls. Addy refused to go down any slides. She would get to the top, think about it, and then come back down. She preferred plopping herself down and watching all of the other kids go down. Olivia ended up loving the slides, but she was too small to do them on her own so she needed our help, which wasn't bad considering our other child needed no help at all just sitting and watching everyone else have all the fun. But, both were having a good time.

We splashed around and played for quite awhile before stopping for our lunch. We then decided to explore the park. We saw several people carrying double tubes built for an adult and child. Garrett and I both thought the lazy river would be a slow, safe ride to take the girls on so we asked a worker where to go and soon discovered we SHOULD NOT have taken her advice.

Instead of sending us to the "Lazy River," we were sent to "Roaring Rapids." I wondered why all the people waiting in line at the ride next to us looked at us like we were crazy. Olivia was quick to jump in my arms (thank God) as we were sent down a river of falls and dips that not only splashed us in the face repeatedly but forced me to hit my butt on the bottom AND spun our tube around backwards so I had no idea what was coming. Garrett and Addy were ahead of us and I caught his glance at one point and gave him the "OMG WE ARE GOING TO DROWN" face so as soon as they got to the bottom of the river he hopped out of his tube to help us. Well, his exit off his tube wasn't quite as casual as he would have hoped so, to Addy, it looked like he had fallen out of their tube which resulted in hysterical screaming and crying. She continued crying the entire walk back to our picnic table and asked Garrett about 100 times if he was okay. The poor kid probably thought her Dad was drowning or something. I have a feeling getting her back into a tube in the future may be near impossible.

Needless to say, this ended our trip to Schlitterbahn. Addy had had enough so we gathered our stuff and headed for the car. If it wasn't for my kids being afraid of everything AND for our slight misfortune on the river, I think I would have given the water park two thumbs up. Instead, I shall give it only one.     

Again we went home for naps and for some sprucing up before we hit up The Olive Garden for dinner (Gift Card) and Dairy Queen for dessert (Buy 1 Blizzard Get 1 Free Coupon) so we went to bed with full bellies that night.

Friday
Our plan for Friday was to go breakfast and then hit up Shawnee Mission Park for some fishing and playing, followed by a picnic. Rain had different plans for us however so we had to rethink our day.

We went ahead and went to breakfast (IHOP Gift Card) and decided to try out a new place I had noticed in the mix of our coupons. We ventured to Leaping Lizards, a kid's play place with large inflatables. I guess I was expecting just your typical bounce house type stuff so when we got there I was blown away. These bounce houses were HUGE and there were NINE of them! We only had to pay for Addy ($2 off Coupon making our total $6) which was awesome. We picked a good time to go because it wasn't very busy and we ended up having about 45 minutes of play time with hardly anyone else there. Adults are allowed to "play" too so Garrett and I joined in on the fun and we even snuck Olivia into some of the inflatables when no one was looking (children under 2 aren't technically supposed to play in the large inflatables as they have a toddler section for them). It turned out to be a very fun time and we will definitely be going back!

As usual, we headed back home for naps and then got ready for the eagerly anticipated dinner at T-Rex Cafe.

I don't even think I have to explain how great of a time Addy had. I'll just let you look at this picture...

The huge dinosaur at the front of the restaurant scared her so much she screamed. Then the little "show" that went on every 15 minutes made her cover her ears and plead for it to end. She warmed up slightly as the dinner went on but as we left she made Garrett hold her and she covered her eyes so she couldn't see the big T-Rex again.

My. Kids. Are. Such. Wussies.

We spent the rest of the evening in the playroom and that concluded our Staycation. When your kids are as little as ours, a vacation at home is really the way to go. We hardly spent any money (I told you those Gift Cards and Coupons were great sponsors) and we got to stay on schedule and sleep in our own beds.

I have plenty more pictures to share so I will apologize to my FB friends now =)

Sincerely Yours,

Are We There Yet?

Dear Diary,

Tomorrow starts our Forsythe Family Staycation. What is a Staycation you ask? Well I will tell you.

We had plans to go on a little vacation this summer and while we were bummed to turn it down, we knew a long car ride and chasing our girls around an unfamiliar place would turn out to be not much of a vacation at all.

So, because Garrett has time to take off work, we decided to plan a little vacation at home. And really, there is no better idea than this one. While vacationing is fun, the planning, packing, traveling there, getting out of routine, traveling home, unpacking, getting back into routine is NEVER fun. So we're going to avoid all of that.

We are going to spend the rest of the week doing fun things around KC that we either haven't done before, or that Dad never gets to do with us because he is always at work. We have every day planned and we've gone over it all a few times with Addy who couldn't be more excited about what is in store for the next few days. Because honestly, when your kids are little, they could care less if you are at the park down the street or miles across the country at Disney World.

We'll get to plan around nap times, take picnic lunches from home, save money on gas or plane tickets AND sleep in our own beds. Genius.

Tomorrow morning starts Day 1 of our vacation and we better stay on schedule because I have a feeling SOMEONE will remind us frequently if we don't.

Yay for Family Time!

Sincerely Yours,

A Different Perspective

Dear Diary,

I finished my third and final book for this month's book club and although it wasn't my favorite of the three we read, one particular part really left an impression on me.

I complain a lot about not looking like I used to. I blame not having enough time to dedicate 2 hours a day to a gym workout. I blame convenience for convincing me that simple recipes are in fact  cheaper to make, but more fattening. I blame having an awesome family for making me want to spend my evenings playing rather than doing push ups or lunges. And I blame my genes for not snapping my body back to where it belongs. I think most Moms will say it is worth it in a heartbeat, but that doesn't stop us from holding out hope that by some miracle we will get our old body back.

After reading my book and catching a different point of view, I understood that maybe the trade-off is indeed worth it. While I realize this was a fictional story, I cannot help but notice the truth in the perspective of a woman who has lived a pretty rough life - Single mother, no significant other, drug and alcohol problems, several rehab visits and a life spent alone with only her son to look after her.

From the perspective of Tammi Lee:

"She still fit into her size-eight Wranglers, and she was proud of that. Yet deep inside her dwelt a strange longing that seized her at the oddest of times. She secretly dreamed of being plump and bespectacled, with forearms that jiggled and a double chin, wearing a house dress and a bib apron and sensible shoes. Smelling of talcum powder and Jergens lotion and freshly baked bread. It was insane, but she wanted to be one of those plus-size blue-haired women. Because when you looked like that, it told folks you knew your place in the world. It meant you'd raised a family, making pancakes for then on the weekends and reading bedtime stories to the kids. It meant you'd made a house into a home, putting up curtains and picking out the right color for the walls and buying flats of petunias for the garden every spring. It meant you had grandkids who came running up the walk to the front door because they couldn't wait to see you. It meant you had a husband who had several annoying habits, but you loved him anyway because he was your whole world. God, what she wouldn't give to fit into a life like that, instead of into her size-eight Wranglers."

Now, it is not that I think you are only a good mother if you are chubby and know how to cook a mean meal. I enjoy my short workouts during the week and feel it is important to remain as healthy as possible, but I also know that if I died tomorrow I wouldn't be upset that i didn't get one final workout in. I'd be upset if I didn't spend the extra few minutes reading a bedtime story or making cinnamon rolls in the morning instead of the usual cereal and banana.

So I guess what I am saying is that instead of spending any more time aggravated that I can't fit into my jeans from college, I should be thankful that that I am making memories with my family instead.

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, here are the book reviews for my current reads:

Karen McQuestion, "The Long Way Home"     A-
A story about 4 women who have hardly a thing in common but plan a spontaneous road trip together. It was fun to see how each of their stories turned out and I appreciated how the author made their rash decisions seem reasonable.

Elin Hilderbrand, "The Island"    A+
A group of relatives spend a much needed month vacation on an island and get to know each other and, more importantly, themselves a little better. I absolutely loved this book! One of my favorite reads by far. Everything from how it was written to the characters to the storyline. It was just fantastic and I highly recommend it.

Susan Wiggs, "The You I Never Knew"    B+
If you like conflict mixed with tying up loose ends, this is the book for you. There is a father/daughter relationship that needs mended, a father/son relationship that needs started, and an old romance that needs re-sparked.

I am anxious to meet with the rest of my book club and see what they thought of our picks and I am really excited to see what we'll be reading next!

Sincerely Yours,

Day 28, 29 & 30

Dear Diary,

Here are the final days of Photo A Day June.

Thursday, June 28th: On The Shelf

Books are extremely important in this house. Addalyn could spend her entire day being read to and flipping through the books herself. She has an entire bookcase full of books, and this is the overflow shelf. She loves each and every one of them and every new book bought my as well be gold with how excited she gets.

Friday, June 29th: Soft

I had a hard time with this day. Either that or I was just getting sick of Photo A Day June itself. So "Soft" is represented by Garrett's beard. He has been sporting the beard for some time now and I guess I have gotten so used to it that I don't even realize it's there anymore.

Saturday, June 30th: Friends

We spent the weekend with family. My best friends are my family members so it felt appropriate to take a picture of the crew!

And that is that - 30 Days of June represented by a photo. I have to say I enjoyed it and even though "Photo A Day July" was tempting, I think I'll take a break. Now I'll be back to taking pictures just for the reason of taking pictures, not because I need to capture the theme of the day.Plus, I kind of miss writing regular blog entries.

Sincerely Yours,